“The crook! Where is he?”
“He’s outside,” Scoop called from the window, “searching his pockets for his auto key. You can head him off if you snap into it.”
A diminishing clatter of shoes came from the hall. I ran to the window. The red car was still in the yard.
“Hey!” yelled Bid, coming into sight on the run.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” lied Gennor.
There was considerable exciting talk. We saw Gennor bring out a roll of greenbacks and pass them around. Then the whole gang got into the car. Having found his switch key, the driver started the motor. There was a clashing of gears; the car hurtled forward, quickly disappearing from our sight.
I looked at Scoop and he looked at me, but neither of us said a word. We were too sick and discouraged to talk.
We were licked now. There was no doubt of that. Almost with our hands on the talking frog, we had let Gennor slip in and get it away from us. Long before we could get to town he would [[212]]be on his way to Chicago with the stolen invention.
Suddenly Scoop clutched my arm.
“Lookit!” he cried, pointing.